Conor Dunne will today race in the yellow jersey of the An Post Rás for the first time in his career, earning the right to wear the colours after winning stage one of the race yesterday afternoon.

The 21 year old amateur outsprinted British rider Michael Northey (Britain Node4 Giordana Racing) into Longford, with the two gaining time on the bunch when they clipped away twenty kilometres from the line.

They finished 23 seconds ahead of a peloton led home by Roy Eefting (Holland Koga Cycling Team), and as a result Dunne is at the top of the leaderboard today.

Speaking after the race, the Belgium based rider was jubilant about the success, and confirmed that taking a pro contract is his big motivation. “What I want to do is ride my bike, it is what I like to do,” he said. “The way to keep riding your bike is to go pro. I really want to do that. It is a big goal.”

Born in England, Dunne has been competing for Ireland for several seasons. “I have Irish grandparents…my granny is from Charlestown in County Mayo and I have still got family there. My granddad was from the Dublin area. They moved to England when my dad was born. I was always brought up to be more proud of my Irish roots than my English roots,” the current Irish under 23 champion explained.

Featuring five man teams and chaotic tactics, the An Post Rás is a notoriously difficult race to control. Dunne’s task today is made all the more difficult by the fact that he is riding for an Irish county team, Tipperary Carrick Iverk Produce rather than a Continental squad.

In the past some riders in his position have deliberately relinquished the jersey after winning the opening stage, reasoning that it is easier to get it back later in the week rather than trying to defend from the start, but he said after the stage that he was unsure what tactics they would follow.

“I will have to give it a think this evening. I will have to let it sink in. At the moment I just want to race hard tomorrow and do the jersey proud. We will see.”

How it played out:

A total of 182 riders put cleat to pedal and mitts to bars at the start of the 2013 An Post Rás, rolling out of Dunboyne in mild, sunny conditions. They would fight it out over 135.4 kilometres of flat and rolling roads, with just one categorised climb rearing up before the finish in Longford.

That ascent would come 61.5 kilometres after the start at Slieve an Calliagh, and the third category climb would also serve as the second of the day’s intermediate sprints. The first, The An Post post office sprint at Athboy, was located 41.3 kilometres after the drop of the flag and would also give bonus seconds to the first three riders across the line.

These time-making opportunities encouraged riders to attack and there were a constant stream of aggressive moves. Tim Mertens (Belgium national team) and Colin Robinson (Meath Stamullen M. Donnelly) were amongst the first to attack, but were quickly closed down.

Conor Dunne (Tipperary Carrick Iverk) and Dan Barry (Britain Node4 Giordana Racing) also had a go inside the first fifteen kilometres but they too didn’t get far.

After 21 kilometres a more dangerous looking move went clear when Keagan Atkinson (Australia Team Subaru Albion) and Joseph Perrett (Britain IG Sigma Sport) accelerated and succeeded in opening a gap.

However the bunch knew that there were several strong riders present and reeled the move in after several minutes. A subsequent move went clear leaving Trim, where Samuel Harrison (Great Britain National Team), Richard Handley (Britain Rapha Condor JLT), Richard Tanguy (Britain UK Youth Pro Cycling) and Roger Aiken (Louth Prague Charter) opened a ten second lead over the peloton. While Joshua Hunt (Britain UK Youth) managed to bridge and thus give the move some extra energy, the break didn’t last.

The first intermediate sprint was fast approaching and with four kilometres to go until that point, Christoph Schweizer (Azerbaijan Synergy Baku) and Jacob Rytlewski (USA Astellas Oncology) tried to steal a march on the bunch. They held a brief lead but were recaptured before that point. Aaron Buggle (Rapha Condor JLT) was more successful, jumping away and getting the bonus seconds in Athboy, 41.3 kilometres into the stage.

That earned him three seconds, while fellow Irishman Peter Hawkins (Britain IG Sigma Sport) and Martin Hunal (Czech Republic AC Sparta Praha) took two and one seconds respectively.

The acceleration in pace helped ensure that an impressive 48.5 kilometres were covered in the first hour of racing.

The break continued to gain time and topped out at 55 seconds after 54 kilometres of racing. However while there were plenty of strong riders present, the group’s cooperation started to splutter.

The eighteen riders raced on to the third category Slieve an Calliagh (km 61.5) climb, which also served as the second intermediate sprint of the day. There was a huge crowd present there, with those watching including Dermot Dignam, who retired from the race director’s position after last year.

Hunal was first to the top, taking five points and three bonus seconds, with the next riders past the line being Oliphant, Partridge and McConvey.

The break’s advantage continued to fluctuate, dropping to fifteen seconds after the top of the climb, increasing again to over half a minute, but then disappearing entirely with approximately 82 kilometres covered.

Jacob Rytlewski (USA Astellas Oncology) made a solo effort with 25 kilometres remaining but didn’t get far. The same fate awaited a subsequent move by Nick Stopler (Holland Koga Cycling Team), but a more successful break was started twenty kilometres from the finish when Michael Northey (Britain Node4 Girodana) clipped away and was joined by Conor Dunne (Tipperary Carrick Iverk).

Sharing the workload well, they continued to build their advantage over chaser Ray O’Shaughnessy (Louth Prague Charter). He was joined by Michael Nicolson (Scotland national team) but they steadily lost ground.

Dunne and Northey were a minute clear with ten kilometres to go, making it theoretically possible for them to stay clear to the line, but requiring continued hard effort. With five kilometres to go they were 49 seconds ahead of Jasper de Buyst (Belgium National team) and Sam Bennett (An Post Chainreaction Sean Kelly). The latter two were temporarily joined by Nicolas Vereecken (An Post Chainreaction Sean Kelly) and Nick Stopler (Holland Koga Cycling), but were all caught inside the final three kilometres.

Dunne and Northey pushed ahead and raced into Longford knowing that the stage win and first yellow jersey would go to one of them. The Irishman proved strongest in the dash for the line, finishing well clear and notching up his first victory of the season.

Roy Eefting (Holland Koga Cycling Team) and Rico Rogers (Azerbaijan Synergy Baku) led in the main bunch some 23 seconds back, with the final calculations putting Dunne four seconds clear in the yellow jersey.